S3 E9 - Character Strengths

It's time to circle back. We've put a pin in it and we're circling back! Actually, to be completely honest, your organisation failed to put a pin in it to begin with and that's half the problem. You became a manager one day and everyone moved on with their lives. No training, no development, no new skill set. Eek! We shall right that wrong on today's episode as we go back to The Basics and talk about four good working habits that will stand you (and your team) in good stead for future challenges. What are The Basics, you ask? Being composed, kind, clear, and conscientious. Let's get those right, Professionals.

My dearest Managers, would you like to hear the good news or the bad news first? The bad news is: you're missing a powerful component from your tool kit. The good news: you've got a tool kit! And you've got me. Yes, we've been doing Learning a real disservice, I'm afraid. We've limited it to inadequate spaces, left it for someone else to deal with, and not sharpened our skills to make better use of it on our teams. Dear, oh, dear. Let's fix that, shall we? In this episode, I'll outline common pitfalls we encounter when engaging with the concept of Learning and set you on the path to righteousness. How am I going to do that? With our best friend, evidence-based practice from that light in the professional storm - Organisational Psychology. Find me Twitter Substack LinkedIn

How, exactly, does one make a team work? It turns out - common assumptions that have been allowed to fester in the ol' organisational spaces aren't exactly super duper. You may be well aware of that if you look at your particular crack squad of slightly less than savvy, motivated personnel and think, "Oh, dear." Never fear, though - help is on the way! In this episode, I'll outline some common errors we make as managers and why they are less helpful. After that, I'll share some evidence-based solutions to these problems in the shape of real, practical changes you can start making today. Here are some promised links: (Lacerenza et al., 2018) Teamwork Development Interventions: Evidence-based approaches for improving teamwork (Woolley et al., 2010) Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups The Recruitment Show - Attract and Retain People with Psychology with Dr Susie Phillips-Baker Flight of the Conchords - Business Time I'm sometimes here: @butimaprofesh LinkedIn Substack

This mini mini series is for the managers out there who are confounded, bemused, and perplexed at the state of affairs within their motley crew. The basics of solid, non-trend-chasing manager skills is still something we get wrong - despite having a large amount of evidence to help us get it right. So let's do that in this series - let's get some of the major wrongs right and let science lead the way. This episode is about resilience and how our language, perceptions, and work design is standing in the way of making it happen. I'll offer you some ways to make small but effective changes to your team so that they can develop and deploy resilience, rather than succumbing to burnout and exhaustion. Sorry for the background noises. Can someone send me a soundproof recording booth, please? Thanks. The artist formerly know as Twitter: @butimaprofesh Substack: nancyelizabeth

Either passively or intentionally, we mere overworked and underpaid mortals consume a fairly consistent feed of extraordinary claims from one day to the next. "Social media is a great place to connect with others!" - Is it? "We're reducing our carbon footprint and making real changes around here!" - Oh, are you? "We need to raise your heating/electric/food bill!" - Do you now? Sorry, you'll have to speak up - I can't hear you over the CEO banking his bonus. At the risk of upsetting the ghost of Carl Sagan, sometimes extraordinary claims are made without extraordinary evidence to back them up. Other times, extraordinary evidence inexplicably does not seem to beget extraordinary claims - even when well deserved. What are some claims you hear at work and see no evidence to support it? In this episode, I'll give you some examples of claims that do not match their evidence with a desperate imbalance on one side or the other. I'll also give you some considerations for work that are bizarrely not extraordinary claims. The citation for the article I quote is: Julian Decius, Michael Knappstein & Katharina Klug (2023): Which way of learning benefits your career? The role of different forms of work-related learning for different types of perceived employability, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/1359432X.2023.2191846 Follow me: https://twitter.com/butimaprofesh https://nancyelizabeth.substack.com/

What would you say your character strengths are? Do you have any idea or does that question lead to a lot of blinking, frowning, and random adjectives spewing forth from your unsure self? Fear not, dear Professional. In today's episode, I'm going to talk you through the very useful work done by some psychologists who were interested in developing a list of good character traits (24 of them, in fact!) that we all possess to varying degrees. I'll tell you how you can learn about your traits, why it's useful to apply in the workspace, and some practical ways you may be able to do so. We're talking self-reflection, introspection, goal setting, job crafting and much much more. Come along, Professionals - we've got some wellbeing to foster! Twitter: @butimaprofesh Substack: /nancyelizabeth Email: [email protected]

Did you have to do a personality test on your last Team Building Exercise day? Ew. Are you in the habit of saying the phrase, "I'm a ___(zodiac sign)___, I'm no good at ___(skill)___"? Sigh. Does your Org hire, manage, and lead people by putting a lot of weight on their personalities being an issue rather than doing the much more useful work of building a learning culture? Boooooo! Labels are usually unhelpful and limiting. They hold back growth and perpetuate phenomena that is often entirely constructed. We can do better as colleagues, managers, leaders, and humans by dropping the labels and applying an evidence-based understanding of ourselves and others. Your 'personality' is a complex blend of environmental influence, learned behaviour, cultural norms, habits... and on and on. So, rather than adhere to the fixed mindset of a limiting label - let's learn how we can grow and evolve within the complex continuums we encompass. Twitter: @butimaprofesh Substack: nancyelizabeth

Are you a woman who has the audacity to exist in a professional space? Well. You'll be all too familiar with interruptions and being 'mansplained' to on a regular basis, no doubt. Why does this happen? How does it negatively impact your professional development? What can you do about it? In this episode I'll give you some potential reasons why we experience this type of behaviour at work. Research on this topic suggests that we perceive women in a way that doesn't always match the reality. While that is unfair and further complicates the issues, we mustn't despair. It is our collective responsibility to do better and to reshape how we communicate with each other in our professional spaces. Please enjoy this episode featuring a lot of me sighing because women having to find ways of functioning in the face of micro-aggressions is some tedious bullshit. *sigh* Many thanks to a listener in Australia for requesting this topic! Twitter: @butimaprofesh Substack: /nancyelizabeth Email: [email protected]

This episode I shall talk - at some length - about where I think the future of leadership is headed. Namely, into the welcoming bosom of positive psychology. I know... you got a lot of questions. Questions like, what's positive psychology? What's it got to do with leadership? Why is this episode so long? All will be revealed, dear Professional. I'll give you some background on the research surrounding positive leadership, how you can take those research outcomes and apply them to your work, and to formulate an action plan to set yourself up for improved leadership efficacy! Please enjoy my guest speaker, the washing machine, as it vibrates through my home office floor and into your headphones. Twitter: @butimaprofesh Substack: nancyelizabeth.substack.com

This week's episode is about the F word... yep. Failure. *gasp* Do not worry - this is not one of those podcast episodes where I'm going to explain how you need to 'fail fast' or 'forward' or some such trash. No, no. Over here in BIAP Land, we're more interested in considering how the shame and fear of failure negatively impacts our professional development. Let us consider some of the following questions: What impact does outside pressure have on our inner relationship to failure? How does it impact our ability to lead well or for our Orgs to learn? In what ways does it impact our interactions and exchanges at work? What can we do to develop a more useful relationship with failure? Tune in to learn some useful steps you can take to have a more skillful relationship with failure and see its value. Twitter: @butimaprofesh Substack: nancyelizabeth.substack.com